Friday, May 2, 2014

French Fridays with Dorie - Tuna Rillettes

Pleasant surprise...this was much better than I expected!

These days, it's usually Thursday morning when I consider participating in French Fridays with Dorie for the week. I check out the recipe over coffee and decide if it's something I can eat on my own or share, so it doesn't go to waste.

This morning, I was all set to run to the store, grab a few cans of tuna and a baguette (I had everything else), and make Tuna Rillettes for lunch. I grabbed a few other things I needed to survive for the next few days, got through the checkout stand, and then realized I didn't have my bank card or any cash...*&#?*%!!

I went back home, traced my misplaced card back to a restaurant a few nights before, returned to the restaurant when it opened at 4:00, and ultimately retrieved my ingredients from the store in time for a light dinner.

Frankly, what I imagined was something similar to tuna cat food. I like tuna sandwiches, but I always use Bumble Bee Solid White Albacore, packed in water. Dorie's Tuna Rillettes calls for chunk light tuna packed in oil because albacore is too firm and dry for this recipe. The tuna is pulsed in the food processor with a sliced shallot, curry powder, quatre épices, crème fraîche, lemon juice, and salt & pepper, until the mixture achieves the consistency of cat food a nice just-right-on-a-cracker paste. It's then packed into a ramekin and refrigerated for at least an hour before serving. Dorie suggests offering the rillettes as a nibble with wine or cocktails, as it is designed to be spread on crackers or toasted baguette slices.

It worked for me, very nicely, with a glass of white wine. Meow ;-)

French Fridays with Dorie is an online cooking group, dedicated to Dorie Greenspan‘s Around My French Table: More Than 300 Recipes from My Home to Yours. As members of the group, we have purchased the cookbook and cook along as much as we can. There is a new recipe each week, and we post about that recipe on Friday. We are asked to refrain from posting the actual recipes on our blog. The book is filled with stunning photography, and personal stories about each recipe, which makes it that much more intriguing. I highly recommend adding it to your cookbook collection if you haven't already!

I love your photographs with the perfectly toasted bread and the spread! I have a cat and everytime I open a can of tuna she runs like crazy from wherever she is the house to the kitchen in hopes that she will get some on her place! This time though it was not for her but for me and I loved it so much I will be making it again when the shops open on Monday!

This one was way better than cat food! I'm glad you thought so in the end.

I recently forgot my wallet when I went to Whole Foods. I was amazed that they let me bring the groceries home and call with the credit card number when I got home. They didn't even take my name when I left the store, just trusted me. Still marveling over that.